MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the preparations for the European Council meeting (19-20 December 2013)
9.12.2013 - (2013/2626(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 110(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Martin Callanan on behalf of the ECR Group
B7‑0584/2013
European Parliament resolution on the Preparations for the European Council meeting (19 -20 December 2013)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas defence policy falls within the competence of the Member States;
B. whereas there is a need to enhance democratic legitimacy within the Commission’s proposal for a ‘deep and genuine economic and monetary union’, as highlighted in the blueprint, by closely involving, through the appropriate legal procedure, both the national parliaments, especially those of the euro area, and the European Parliament, in the ongoing legislative process and in the drafting of any future amendment to the Treaties;
C. whereas progress towards a deep and genuine EMU should respect the will of the Member States which have an opt-out from having to introduce the euro in order to retain their respective national currencies;
D. whereas Europe is involved in a global race, in which only competitive economies will be able to create jobs and raise the living standards of their citizens;
E. whereas the European Union faces a profound competitiveness crisis in an increasingly challenging global economy;
COMMON SECURITY AND DEFENCE POLICY
1. Emphasises that defence policy should remain primarily the competence of Member States, driven by consensus between governments, and not by any EU institution; recalls that the EU neither has nor creates any additional military forces;
2. Urges the EU to focus on the development of its civil capabilities, which could complement the military capabilities of NATO and of coalitions of the willing, rather than establish expensive and duplicative military structures, institutions and strategies within the CSDP framework;
3. Is convinced that European allies should have at their disposal improved, deployable and interoperable military capabilities as a contribution, in the first instance, to NATO capabilities; believes that those that lack such capabilities might usefully pool and share; considers that the misnamed ‘EU battlegroups’ could be developed into a useful tool for training and interoperability;
4. Underlines the importance of supporting a strong defence technological and industrial base among European countries, since this constitutes a key element in the capacity of European nations to ensure the security of their citizens and to fulfil international obligations;
5. Notes that the economic and debt crisis has had an impact on defence budgets and has provided a further excuse for reducing national capabilities; underlines the greater need, therefore, to avoid costly and wasteful duplication by the EU of capabilities that already exist in NATO; and calls on all European allies to meet the NATO requirement of spending a minimum of 2 % of GDP on defence;
6. Notes with regret the considerable delays in transposing the 2009 directive and asks the Commission to pay special attention to the market barriers that still exist in the areas of non-strategic procurement; commends those Member States that have already taken action in this respect and the developments that have already been achieved;
ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION
7. Notes that incremental progress has been achieved over the past year in implementing the reforms required to improve the functioning of the EMU, and calls on the Member States to work towards putting their fiscal positions on a more sustainable footing;
8. Notes that the economic crisis has not yet abated; stresses that it is of the utmost importance to continue with growth-friendly consolidation of public finances; underlines the need to continue the process of deep and sustainable structural reforms focused on labour market flexibility, the effectiveness of social systems and public administration, a healthy banking system and stable financial markets;
9. Recognises the need to improve the functioning of the EMU, especially as regards enhancing democratic accountability and breaking the link between sovereigns and banks, thus preventing European taxpayers from having to pay for the consequences of future crises in the financial sector; warns, however, that financial regulation has a serious and unintended effect on business end-users, pension funds and other elements of the real economy; calls for increased vigilance to ensure that financial regulation is efficient and targeted in such a way as to minimise the cost consequences for those who rely on the financial services industry rather than suppress the competitiveness of both businesses and financial institutions;
10. Reaffirms that EMU governance must not infringe on the prerogatives of the national parliaments and the European Parliament, especially whenever any transfer of sovereignty is envisaged; underlines the fact that proper legitimacy and accountability require democratic decisions and must be ensured at the appropriate national and EU levels by the national parliaments and the European Parliament respectively; encourages the use of referenda in Member States where constitutional provisions allow it, in order to increase democratic legitimacy;
11. Asks for diligent design of the EMU economic policy coordination process, whereby the Commission should present its opinion on major economic policy reforms to the parliament of the Member State concerned at its request and justify all its recommendations for adjustments of the proposed reforms prior to the parliament of the Member State concerned deciding by a simple majority whether to adopt or reject this opinion;
12. Underlines the fact that participation in any convergence instrument based on conditional funding of reform activities should be on a strictly voluntary basis, both for euro area and non-euro area Member States; suggests Article 352 TFEU as a legal basis for any financial support mechanism for any such instrument;
13. Underlines the fact that the implementation of measures already approved must take precedence over any new proposal; urges the Commission to justify, on the basis of an independent external impact assessment, the added value of any new proposal in the area of economic governance, especially where any transfer of sovereignty is envisaged;
14. Considers that the EU and the EMU cannot be democratically sustainable without a decentralisation of powers towards national parliaments; suggests, in addition to the existing ‘yellow card’ system, a ‘red card’ system for national parliaments to require the Commission to withdraw unwanted legislative proposals;
15. Calls on the Commission to list the institutional developments which it deems necessary in the next twelve months in order to strengthen EMU architecture, and to inform the legislators about them without delay, so as to enable the national parliaments to exercise their enhanced right of scrutiny in respect of the compliance of these proposals with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles;
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL POLICY
16. Supports a growth strategy whose objective would be to ensure that the proper policy framework is in place to allow business and entrepreneurs to thrive, creating employment, generating wealth and raising living standards; notes that the Europe 2020 strategy has set out a path for the future, but considers it regrettable that the political will has been lacking to give it sufficient momentum to ensure its full implementation; underlines the importance of creating a framework that encourages all sectors of the economy to recover and succeed, with a particular focus on manufacturing and services;
17. Is deeply concerned at the high (and rising) levels of unemployment in the EU-28, with young people facing record rates; calls for the activation of policies to encourage jobseekers to return to the labour market and for structural reforms to enhance competition, reduce labour costs, increase productivity performance and promote labour mobility in order to strengthen growth and boost job creation across the EU;
18. Calls on the Commission, within the framework of fitness checks, to identify areas affected by excessive burdens, inconsistencies and ineffective measures, particularly in the field of employment and health and safety legislation, that hinder growth opportunities for business, particularly for SMEs;
19. Welcomes the agreement with the Council on the major reform of public procurement, which will be approved by Parliament in January; insists that Member States should start the process of transposing these significant reforms without delay in order to maximise the benefits to be derived from opening up the market to SMEs, introducing e-procurement tools, ensuring better alignment of public procurement and encouraging innovative solutions; draws attention, in particular, to the potential for innovative procurement through the early incorporation of the new tool for innovative partnerships;
20. Agrees with the Commission’s assessment that the single market has considerable untapped potential, and calls, therefore, on Member States to implement expeditiously legislation which has already been agreed on; draws attention, in particular, to the growth potential of the services market, which Parliament has consistently underlined in a series of reports; calls on the Council and the Commission to make much greater efforts in this area;
21. Notes that unnecessary and restrictive barriers also remain in the single market for goods because the mutual recognition obligation contained in the Goods Package is routinely being ignored by Member State authorities; commends the Commission for the targeted action it is currently taking to deal with these infringements, particularly in respect of construction products; notes also that standards bodies must respect the rules of the single market and should not construct new barriers to the single market for goods by devising new restrictive national standards;
22. Commends the European Council for its detailed recommendations on completing the digital single market and is disappointed that the Commission has not matched this engagement with a targeted action plan as it was invited to do by Parliament; draws attention to Parliament’s resolution of 4 July 2013 on completing the digital single market[1], which called for broadband, e-identification and e-signatures, and confirms that a wide-ranging plan of action should be drawn up with appropriate targets for Member States;
23. Shares the Commission’s view that European regulation should be carefully designed to achieve maximum effectiveness and minimum burdens for businesses, especially smaller enterprises; expresses its concern that recent Commission proposals have been submitted to Parliament and the Council with extremely weak impact assessments and poor justifications, as confirmed by the public reviews carried out by the Commission’s own Impact Assessment Board; considers that the Commission has become unduly complacent over its impact assessment system and demands that there should be a thorough review of its effectiveness ahead of its next term of office, which must take into account the need to strengthen the pre-legislative and policy development process, as recommended in the Court of Auditors’ Report on the Operation of Impact Assessments; requests, furthermore, that the Commission prioritise growth and competitiveness and regularly update its regulatory burden reduction targets; strongly endorses the work of the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT) and the SME scoreboard; requests an early update from the Commission on its progress in dealing with the top ten most burdensome EU regulations, as identified in its recent communication;
24. Appreciates the Commission’s efforts to simplify and improve tax compliance in EU Member States with the introduction of a standard VAT return that is estimated to reduce administrative burdens by a maximum of EUR 15 billion per annum, and calls on the Member States to transpose the related directive into their national legislation without delay;
25. Welcomes the opportunity to revise the parent-subsidiary directive in order to safeguard against aggressive tax planning in the EU;
26. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to join efforts with partner countries and institutions with a view to regularly updating, refining and enforcing the OECD definition of tax havens in order to ensure a level playing field and global compliance with a common global standard;
27. Calls on the Commission to report annually to Parliament and the Council on the progress achieved in the EU and globally in fighting tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, and to publish on its website concrete examples of best practices in this field;
OTHER ITEMS
Task Force for the Mediterranean
28. Is deeply concerned about the ongoing humanitarian crisis and political unrest in North Africa, which is placing a heavy strain on neighbouring countries and causing large numbers of refugees to continue to seek asylum in the EU;
29. Welcomes the establishment of the Taskforce for the Mediterranean; calls also on participants to work together to provide practical, workable solutions that have widespread support among Member States in order to prevent a repeat of the recent tragedies at sea, help build democracy and stability in the North African region, and decrease asylum pressures on the EU;
30. Calls on the Commissioner for Home Affairs to outline what actions she is taking to encourage greater efforts to fight smuggling and trafficking in North Africa, other transit countries and key countries of origin;
31. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council and the Commission.
- [1] Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0327.